Asian stocks were mostly higher on Tuesday after a tech rally on Wall Street, but their gains remained modest in thin Christmas Eve trade.Overnight, European stocks bounced around while US equities shook off early weakness to push higher as investors waited to see if a so-called Santa Claus rally would materialise.US “stocks didn’t really have any direction in the morning, then we got this tech rally that just sort of drifted higher all day”, said Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers.Analysts said that could help boost semiconductor-related shares, including in Tokyo, although the key Nikkei index closed down 0.3 percent.Hong Kong closed up 1.1 percent and Shanghai gained 1.3 percent. Singapore rose 0.5 percent and Bangkok was up 0.7 percent, while Seoul and Taipei were flat.Hang Seng Bank said in a note that Hong Kong stocks were “consolidating before the long holiday”. It was among several exchanges, including Sydney, closing early on Tuesday.”This is the time of the year when there’s a lot of noise and little to no signal in price action,” said Kyle Rodda, senior market analyst at Capital.Com, cited by Bloomberg News.”There’s a high chance of a pretty slow day for the region and an uneventful rest of the week as a high proportion of the markets log off for the holidays.”Despite the gains, Asian stocks faced downward pressure “as the Bank of Japan warned against foreign exchange speculation and Australia cut its iron ore price forecast”, Hang Seng Bank said.Honda shares closed more than 12 percent higher after the Japanese auto giant announced a buyback of up to 1.1 trillion yen ($7 billion), as it enters merger talks with struggling rival Nissan.The talks on collaboration between Honda and Nissan would create the world’s third-largest automaker, expanding development of EVs and self-driving tech.Honda’s CEO insisted it was not a bailout for Nissan, which announced thousands of job cuts last month and reported a 93 percent plunge in first-half net profit.- Key figures around 0700 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.3 percent at 39,036.85 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 1.1 percent at 20,098.29 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 1.3 percent at 3,393.53Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0396 from $1.0408 on MondayPound/dollar: UP at $1.2536 from $1.2531Dollar/yen: DOWN at 157.05 yen from 157.14 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 82.94 pence from 83.03 penceWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.4 percent at $69.53 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.4 percent at $72.95 per barrelNew York – Dow: UP 0.2 percent at 42,906.95 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 8,102.72 (close)

A US government panel failed to reach a consensus on whether US Steel’s acquisition by Nippon Steel threatens Washington’s national security, shifting the decision to the White House, the Japanese company said late Monday.The deadlock by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) means the controversial $14.9 billion transaction will now be referred to President Joe Biden, who is legally required to act within a 15-day deadline.”Nippon Steel has been informed by CFIUS that the Committee has referred this matter to President Biden after failing to reach a consensus on our transaction with US Steel,” Nippon said. Biden has criticized the deal for months, joining a loud consensus of US power players who have slammed the transaction, including President-elect Donald Trump and the incoming vice president, JD Vance. The deal became ensnared in the 2024 presidential campaign when Pennsylvania emerged as a critical swing state and leaders of the United Steelworkers (USW) union loudly opposed the transaction. Nippon officials had hoped to have more success after the election, but there have been few signs of change in the dynamics. US media have reported that the killing of the deal could prompt litigation from the steel companies. There are also questions about diplomatic fallout from derailing a transaction championed by Japan, a close US ally.Nippon said the deal should go through.”During the 15-day period that the President has to make a final decision, we urge him to reflect on the great lengths that we have gone to address any national security concerns that have been raised and the significant commitments we have made to grow US Steel, protect American jobs, and strengthen the entire American steel industry, which will enhance American national security,” Nippon said.”We are confident that our transaction should and will be approved if it is fairly evaluated on its merits.”US Steel also called on Biden to approve the deal, noting that Nippon is based in “one of the United States’ closest allies” and describing the transaction as a means to “combat the competitive threat from China.”The Nippon deal is “the best way, by far, to ensure that US Steel, including its employees, communities, and customers, will thrive well into the future,”  US Steel said. Nippon has argued that the transaction would pump much-needed capital to update plants in Pennsylvania’s Mon Valley, the oldest of which dates to 1875. The company has described the transaction as a lifeline to Pennsylvania’s much-diminished steel industry, vowing to keep US Steel’s headquarters in Pittsburgh. But the USW union has characterized Nippon’s commitments as untrustworthy, while slamming US Steel executives as being motivated by the huge windfalls they would likely make from the sale.”The proposed US Steel-Nippon transaction represents nothing more than corporate greed, selling out American workers and jeopardizing the long-term future of the domestic steel industry and our national security,” USW President David McCall said Monday as he urged Biden to block the transaction.

US President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to demand control of the Panama Canal be returned to Washington, complaining of “unfair” treatment of American ships and hinting at China’s growing influence.Here are five things to know about the waterway connecting the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.- Panamanian operated -The 80-kilometer (50-mile) interoceanic waterway is operated by the Panama Canal Authority, an autonomous public entity.The Central American nation’s constitution describes the canal as an “inalienable heritage of the Panamanian nation” that is open to vessels “of all nations.”The United States is its main user, accounting for 74 percent of cargo, followed by China with 21 percent.Panama’s government sets the price of tolls based on canal needs and international demand. Rates depends on a vessel’s cargo capacity.”The canal has no direct or indirect control from China, nor the European Union, nor the United States or any other power,” Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino said Sunday as he dismissed Trump’s threat.All vessels, including warships and submarines, are given a Panama Canal pilot.- National history -Panama’s independence from Colombia in 1903 is linked to the canal.Following the failure of French count Ferdinand de Lesseps to open a channel through the isthmus, the United States promoted the separation of the province of Panama and signed a treaty with the nascent country that ceded land and water in perpetuity to build it.After 10 years of construction and an investment of $380 million, the canal was inaugurated on August 15, 1914 with the transit of the steamer Ancon.Some 25,000 deaths from disease and accidents were recorded during its construction.The canal “is part of our history” and “an irreversible achievement,” Mulino said.- American enclave -Washington’s establishment of a “Canal Zone” — an enclave with its own military bases, police and justice system — gave rise to decades of demands by Panamanians to reunify the country and take control of the waterway.In 1977, Panamanian nationalist leader Omar Torrijos and US president Jimmy Carter signed treaties that allowed the canal to be transferred to Panama on December 31, 1999.”Any attempt to reverse this historic achievement not only dishonors our struggle, but is also an insult to the memory of those who made it possible,” former president Martin Torrijos, the general’s son, wrote on social media.Under the treaties, supported by more than 40 countries, the canal is deemed neutral and any ship can pass through.The only conditions are that ships must comply with safety regulations and military vessels from countries at war must not pass through at the same time.- System of locks -Unlike Egypt’s Suez Canal, the Panama Canal operates using freshwater stored in two reservoirs.A drought led to a reduction in the number of transits in 2023, but the situation has since normalized.The canal, which has a system of locks to raise and lower vessels, transformed global shipping.Crafts can travel between the two oceans in about eight hours without having to sail all the way around Cape Horn, the southern tip of the Americas. The canal allows a ship to shave 20,300 kilometers off a journey from New York to San Francisco.- Cash cow -Five percent of world maritime trade passes through the canal, which connects more than 1,900 ports in 170 countries.By the early 21st century, it had become too small, so it was expanded between 2009 and 2016.Today, the canal can accommodate ships up to 366 meters long and 49 meters wide (1,200 feet by 161 feet) — equivalent to almost four football pitches.It generates six percent of Panama’s national economic output and since 2000 has pumped more than $28 billion into state coffers.More than 11,200 ships transited the canal in the last fiscal year carrying 423 million tons of cargo.